The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, like many of its fellow charitable foundations taking on brain research, keeps mostly to already proven avenues of research. In other words, the foundation has a groove, and it's sticking with it. The research is groundbreaking but sensible, and—barring the occasional outlier, like researching epilepsy drugs’ efficacy on schizophrenia symptoms—it doesn't fund off-the-wall projects.

Keep the above in mind if you’re interested in applying for a 2015 Distinguished Investigator Award from BBRF. The foundation just announced its RFP the other day, seeking projects worthy of one-year, $100,000 grants.

While we’ve known for years that the foundation has a soft spot for schizophrenia research, this year, it seems BBRF is especially interested in “special populations”—those with unique or unusual characteristics, or central nervous system developments. What can we learn about these disorders by studying unique outliers who have mental illness or mood disorders? Maybe studying the non-garden-variety cases will help uncover the kinds of insights the BBRF seeks so boldly, the kinds that will, as it hopes, “increase the possibility that people living with mental illness will be able to live full and productive lives," according to scientific council member and Chair Robert M. Post, M.D., of George Washington University.